Most projects I work on them as I have time and get parts/supplies, but because this is a video shoot, im making sure im prepared and can do the entire install in one shoot ... as opposed to doing the route, doing the finish, electronics, waiting for this or that. I wanna have the whole bass "dry built" except for trem and TO finish before I start shooting.

Im actually having trouble finding reasonably priced parts. Your a TBer so I guess you seen how Brian Cornwell got slaughtered there. Thats a shame as he was my biggest supplier. he didnt deserve all that. He wasnt the best but his prices were good and he always got to me and now he is MIA. Now i gotta pay too much, get killed with shipping and spend hours on ebay and amazon hunting for parts.

Talking with people on other boards, im thinking about only making purchases when I can get deals for 6 - 10 parts for each part I need and in a year ... opening shop. I like my currentv job but ide like to be my own boss again.

been messing up the finish on this. I gave up on the tru-oil aerosol concept. It looked yukky. I sanded it down like sand sealer and burnished with fine steel wool. I got the TO out of the can (dont try this at home kids) and wiped on a coat......

It sat apart with no tension on the truss. It needs to sit for at least two weeks with strings on it untill the neck settles.

Setting up intonation, relief, neck angle and action. I go back and forth like 4 or 5 times untill i think its the best it can be.

More or less, it plays like a U neck jazz bass.

I wanted to do this mainly becsuse i wanted to see exactly what a kahler trem is like on a fender type headstock. Our suspicions are that it doesnt work too hot; and thus far, it dont. Its got friction, its creakey and it doesnt stay in tune. I gotta pull some of our kung-fu secret ninja tricks to get it better.

Typical jazzy hs. The nut slots are widened as usual and the angle is pretty sharp from 0 to the machine heads. I'm open for suggestions but furreal, I haven't tried any #2 pencil or grease in the slots yet.

Notice how the g machine head post sits a little bit lower. I was trying to get a little more angle. It helped a little but still the weird chorusey sound on open d and g strings.

I hate saying this but ... this isn't a factory built fender; something someone cut in their basement. I think I need to shim the neck just a touch.

The horizontal string angles coming off the nut to the keys look just about as good as you can possibly get. I don't see that as the issue....BUT....

The vertical angles are really gnarly on the E, A, and D strings. The angle on the G string doesn't look too bad, but I can see what you mean about the key sitting lower than the other three. Why is this? You did this deliberately?

The weird, chorusy sound you describe on the open D and G....is this an acoustic sound, or is it reading through the amp as well?

Yeah, you already know all of the magic tricks to employ. My first suggestion out of all of them would be to try and wind the strings up the posts. You have to be careful in that there is a really small margin where the string will still have enough tension to seat properly in the nut without buzzing, or popping out. It's tricky, and it takes patience and a good eye to work out the proper amount of string to have on the post, and where the "point of no return" is with regards to the string sitting just enough in the nut. But even if you choose not to wind upward, I think you really need to lessen those angles.

You said that you widened the slots. By how much? And I agree that you should try the #2 pencil and/or grease trick.

Did the graphite #2 pencil in the nut slots and put a thin coat of lithium orbital grease in there too. Decided to stay with the downward string wind but needed a better way. Made pedistal type shims for the machine head bases on the d and g strings out if 1/8" and 1/8" + 1/32" ply phenolic plastic respectively. Gave me a nice even downward angle on the g, d and a. The e is still a little harsh but no matter. The buzz stopped and it stays in tune.

Some of the ideas I have had about neck pockets have been proven wrong tho. I always thought its about contact area on the base of the pocket that maintains sustain ... its not. Its the base of the heel pressing against the body from the string tension .....

Try this .....

"This bass seems to have lost sustain."Tighten the strings up like 2 steps. Loosten the neck screws and wiggle the neck to see if ittl go "chunk" into the back of the pocket from the tension and tighten the screws back down.